Provenance:
Don Pedro Alejandro Paterno (1857– 1911) and
Doña Luisa Piñeyro de Lugo y Merino (Sra. de Paterno, d. 1897)

ABOUT THE WORK

by AUGUSTO MARCELINO REYES GONZALEZ III Characteristic of exquisite Manila crafts from 1875– 1900, this fragile, two–part, egg–shaped container of large, polished Nautilus shells is laboriously and entirely adorned with geometric piercework of dots and triangles with considerable “mudejar” influence (1200s–1500s Arabic–Spanish design found in Granada, Cordoba, and Sevilla). The top part is decorated with stylized flowers formed by dots, triangles, and Islamic stars, all in piercework; “Manila” is incised intermittently along the border between the Islamic stars; the actual edge is plain. The bottom part has a fancy, scalloped edge and is embellished with a border of stylized flowers underscored by a scalloped pattern of swags. This paper–thin confection was most likely intended to be used as a container for sweets or notions. This unusual piercework box rendered in large, polished Nautilus shells was thought lost to time until it resurfaced with a group of singular objects owned by Don Pedro Paterno from the estate of his wife Doña Luisa Piñeyro y Merino in Spain. It was well–documented in photographs as one of the native decorative pieces Paterno used to exhibit in his Filipino pavilions during international expositions. The objects remained in the Piñeyro residence when the childless Paterno couple returned to Filipinas in the 1890s; Doña Luisa passed away in Manila in 1897; Don Pedro passed away 14 years later in 1911. The Piñeyro de Lugo y Merino family did not express any interest to claim anything from Don Pedro’s estate. With its reappearance, the circle of provenance has been completed.